Chavez uses Twitter to raid black marketeer

Socialist media in action

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has started asking citizens to grass up black market currency traders by messaging his Twitter account, according to reports.

Chavez blames illegal speculation for the falling value of the bolivar, and has reportedly already had currency trading web sites shut down, their owners arrested.

“My Twitter account is open for you to denounce them,” Chavez said during his weekly TV address, according to the AP. “We're going to launch several raids.”

Chavez joined Twitter a few weeks ago, having initially written it off as a tool used by “terrorists”, after realising the service was being using to rally his opponents.

Last week, he said he'd hired 200 people to manage his account.